


Phoenix

by TheArtificialDane, veronicasanders



Series: Galactica [11]
Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anxiety Attacks, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 21:59:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18949471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheArtificialDane/pseuds/TheArtificialDane, https://archiveofourown.org/users/veronicasanders/pseuds/veronicasanders
Summary: Fame loves her chosen family, but she has always loved one of them a little differently from everyone else. But what happens when their trust is broken?





	Phoenix

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the latest installment of Galactica, by me and Dane. This first chapter takes place almost 2 years after the end of Meteor. We hope you like it - please let us know what you think!! <3

Mourning for someone who was alive was a strange and deeply unsettling experience. Almost an impossible thing, and yet, Fame was living through it in that very moment, Bianca Del Rio sitting next to her, happily sipping on a Bloody Mary.

Bianca wasn’t dead and yet, it somehow felt that way. Most of the time, everything was normal. Bianca was still her friend, someone Fame even considered her best friend. They had known each other for almost 20 years, and Fame loved Bianca more than she could ever put into words, and yet, there was a great divide between them.

Fame tightened her grip on the armrests, waiting for her second round of Xanax to kick in as they flew over the arctic ocean. She tried to control her breath, in through her nose, out through her mouth, her eyes seeing but not watching whatever stupid movie Bianca had decided they should see.

Fame had almost dissolved into tears when Raja had told her she couldn’t come with her to China anyway, Galactica invited to come to Beijing Institute of Fashion and Technology. Isolde had gotten her second ear infection, and Raja had no choice but to stay home.

Fame had started to spiral, fully ready to cancel the entire trip when Raja had grabbed her shoulders, firmly informing her that she had found someone else to go with her. Someone she trusted. Bianca was already packing her bags.

There was just one little problem.

Fame didn’t trust Bianca. At least not enough. Not enough to be here with her, alone.

Fame hadn’t realized until her Xanax hadn’t taken the edge off, the first 30 minutes abroad any flight always hell on earth, but usually she mellowed out, was even ready to relax, but here she was, almost four hours in, and her skin was still itching, both her food and drink untouched, though Bianca had happily helped herself to Fame’s cocktail.

She should have seen it coming. Had known it was coming. She had just gotten so used to being the most important person in Bianca’s life. Fame used to being spoiled, first by her father, then by Patrick and Raja, Juju and Karl all indulging her and letting her have her way, and Bianca had always done it most of all. Stood up for her when it counted, defended her ideas, told her she could do anything, and then. That spot had been taken by someone else.

The day Bianca chose Courtney’s happiness over hers - the day she helped her quit - that was the day a rift began to grow. Fame had forgiven her. Of course she had. Love was love, and Bianca was so very in love, but she hadn’t realized how it had stung, hadn’t realized how far apart they had grown, how little there was left between them.

Fame had kept her distance after Courtney and Bianca’s (second) breakup. Had expected her friend to reach out if she wanted anything, Bianca yelling without abandon at Adore when she dared to suggest that her sister looked sad, and Fame wasn’t going to risk it, but it still stung that Bianca had so happily accepted her departure from her life. They still saw each other, of course. Fame wasn’t a barbarian. She invited Bianca just as she always had, arranged trips and dinners, found excuses for her family of choice to see each other, but Bianca hadn’t even uttered a word that they had stopped hanging out, hadn’t even deigned to notice that Fame was missing from her life, even though Fame herself missed Bianca so much Patrick sometimes had to hold her.

Fame was going to kill Raja when she got back to America, this trip the worst idea either of them had ever had, and she would enjoy every second of gutting the friend who had put her in this terrible situation.

The plane tilted slightly, and Fame gasped, grasping her seat even tighter. Introspection was never fun, but if there was one thing that could force anyone to look at themselves with new eyes, it was four hours in a metal tube of death, and a heartbeat that rose by the minute.

“You okay there, blondie?”

“Mmh.” Fame nodded, trying her best to ignore Bianca and get her breathing under control. She was fine, she could do this.

“You don’t seem fine.”

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“Cause it seems like you’re not watching the show.”

Fame focused on the screen, forcing a small smile on her face. “I’m sorry I’m not fully invested in the bachelor.”

“Bachelor in Paradise.” Bianca grinned. She patted her on the arm, then leaned in close, dangling an airplane bottle of bourbon between her fingers. “Wanna drink a tiny bottle of whiskey?”

Fame tried to relax, forcing her shoulders down.

“Can’t risk the wrinkles.” Fame shook her head. “I don’t pay to look this fab so I can waste it on whatever swill you picked.”

“Swill?”

“I assume.” Fame smiled, a real one this time. “Your taste in alcohol has always been appalling.”

“And theeeeere’s my girl,” Bianca laughed, turning her attention back to their screen. Fame calming down, her thoughts no longer swirling as much. She reached for her bag, looking for her phone to text Patrick and tell him she was okay, when it happened.

The plane dropped, and Fame felt her world go black.

////

“Oh my god, can you believe that bitch?” Bianca laughed, gesturing to her TV screen. “Fuck, I love this show.”

Bianca finished the rest of her cocktail and flagged down the flight attendant.

“You want anything?”

Fame shook her head, lips pressed tightly together. Bianca frowned. She was prepared for Fame’s air travel anxiety, but looking at her, she seemed worse than she’d been in awhile.  

“Fame?”

Thinking back, Bianca couldn’t remember the last time she’d sat next to Fame on a plane. They traveled together all the time, but usually Patrick or Raja was there to take the edge off. Even Juju was better at keeping Fame calm.

Bianca could have kicked herself - when they discussed the trip, Raja had gone on and on about what to do when Fame panicked, what to say, how to act, and at the time, Bianca had cut her off with an annoyed scoff. _‘Yeah, I fucking know how to talk to humans, Raj. Go take care of your dying baby.’_ Which had resulted in Raja flipping her off and cutting the connection.

Fuck, why hadn’t she just listened?

“Fame?”

Fame let out a small noise, and Bianca turned to her.

“Honey, try to watch the show, okay? It’ll take your mind off it.”

Perhaps the valium that Bianca had popped, hoping to get a few hours of sleep herself, was a bad idea. She’d clearly missed noticing earlier exactly how serious it was. Exactly how freaked out her friend must be.

“Look at me, blondie,” Bianca instructed.

“I’m fine!” Fame snapped, Bianca surprised at her friend’s tone.

“Uh, you’re clearly not fine.”

Fame tried to stand up, about to push her way past Bianca.

“I need to call Patrick.”

“Fame, it really feels like you’re freaking out.”

“I’m not freaking out!”

Bianca puts a hand on Fame’s chest, pushing her back into her chair, a move she remembered seeing Raja do. She hoped to god that she was doing it right. Fame’s heart was hammering away at a pace that felt dangerous, and Bianca began to worry even more. What if she needed a doctor? And what was even setting her off?

“Do you feel my hand?”

Fame nodded, her breath still coming in harsh gasps.

“Tell me how it feels.”

“Like you’re sweating on my Chloe.” Fame tried to move, clearly extra uncomfortable with the fact that Bianca’s entire palm was touching the white cotton of her shirt, and not the fact that she was essentially cupping her breast underneath.

“What’s going on?” Bianca asked, ignoring the sarcasm, still focused on Fame’s anxiety.

“The plane. It’s- It’s-”

“Nothing is happening, Fame.”

Fame shook her head, her breath speeding up again.

“It is. There i- ah!” Fame yelped, and Bianca had no idea why, had no idea what to say to calm her down and Bianca couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this utterly helpless. It all culminated when Fame began to cry, silent tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Fuck.” Bianca quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and moved closer.

“No no no no no no. Please buckle your-oh god...”

Bianca knelt down in front of Fame, taking both of her hands, forcing herself between Fame’s legs to make sure Fame had to look at her.

“Blondie, please stay with me. Okay?” Bianca begged. “Listen to me. It’s going to be alright. I’m here, and I’m not letting go. I’ve got you.”

Bianca leaned forward to kiss away the tears still falling down her cheeks, Fame’s breath slowly coming down. “You have to believe me. Nothing is happening.”

Fame nodded, clearly trying to listen to Bianca’s words, and Bianca kicked herself one final time for not even considering that Fame could have freaked out like this.

“I will never let anything bad happen to you,” she whispered. “Okay?”

Fame nodded, letting Bianca hold her, heart slowly returning to normal.

Once she drank the bottle of water that Bianca forced on her, and one more Xanax (“Your last one!” Bianca had warned), she finally began to feel like herself again. She looked over at Bianca with a bit of embarrassment about the whole situation.

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, please don’t do that again.” Bianca’s words were sarcastic, but her tone was soft.

“Thanks for the understanding,” Fame said, unable to resist teasing her with a bit of snarkiness.

“I’m just saying, you usually only freak out when there’s a lot of turbulence or something. I was worried for you.”

“I know.” Fame couldn’t explain to Bianca that her panic had come mostly from being trapped with her. From the stress of thinking that they’d lost something so essential along the way. “I just...I guess there was turbulence in my head.”

Bianca suddenly unbuckled Fame’s seatbelt and pushed the button to flatten her seat down.

“B, what are you-” Fame laughed, surprised, as Bianca climbed into the seat with her. “What are you doing?”

“I need to keep an eye on you,” Bianca explained. “There’s room enough for two.”

“There’s really not.”

“There will be.” Bianca smiled at her, pulling her close and trying to Tetris their bodies together in the narrow space. “See?”

Fame was already exhausted, but with Bianca’s arms tight around her, she felt her whole body relax, drowsiness pulling on her eyelids.

“Are you sure this is okay?” Fame murmured.

“I have never been this uncomfortable in my entire life,” Bianca replied, dropping a kiss to the top of her head.

“Yeah. Me neither,” Fame agreed.

She snuggled deeper against Bianca’s chest, eyes shut, feeling more safe and secure than she had in ages.

Her last thought, before she drifted off to sleep, was one of genuine contentment. Bianca did care. She cared enough to smush herself into this tiny space and hold her, make sure she was okay...and that was enough.


End file.
